by Jess Italiano • • THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS • 30 Comments •
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These chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies have chewy soft centers, thinner edges, toasty brown butter, and two types of melty chocolate. With no mixer required, you can be munching on these addicting cookies in no time!
These chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies are incredibly easy to make - with no mixer required and common pantry ingredients, you can be enjoying soft & warm homemade chocolate chip cookies in no time. Using brown butter for a nutty, caramel-like flavor, two types of melty chocolate, and a healthy sprinkle of flaky salt, one cookie will not be enough!
Jump to:
- Why you’ll love these chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies
- Ingredient notes
- Recipe summary
- FAQ
- Cookie baking tips
- Baking in grams
- Other cookies recipes you may like
Why you’ll love these chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies
- Brown butter. The nutty caramel flavor that brown butter adds to the cookies is *mwah* chef's kiss.
- Chocolatey goodness. I normally use two types of chocolate in this recipe - any combination of milk, semi-sweet, and dark chocolate works! To get those melty chocolate puddles, use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips.
- Super soft texture. These cookies are so unbelievably soft (and gooey when eaten warm!). The secret ingredient here is sour cream - one heaping tablespoon adds so much moisture to the cookies.
Ingredient notes
- Flour:all purpose flour is the flour of choice here for the best texture.
- Leavening agents: baking soda and baking powder are used to help the cookies rise. Baking soda lets them spread, while baking powder results in those puffy centers.
- Cornstarch: cornstarch is added to the cookies for a tender and soft texture.
- Fine sea salt:salt is just as important in baking as it is in cooking! Salt enhances flavor, so omitting it would definitely make a difference in the final result.
- Butter:we use unsalted butter in this recipe to control exactly how much salt goes in. The butter is browned to perfection to add a depth of flavor to the cookies. European style is preferred for the best flavor!
- Sugar:granulated sugar and brown sugar are used in these cookies for sweetness, flavor, and moisture. Brown sugar adds flavor and moisture, while granulated sugar aids in the spread of the cookies and gives those browner edges.
- Egg: one egg is used to bind the ingredients together.
- Vanilla extract: good quality vanilla extract is key for great flavor.
- Sour cream: a little bit of sour cream is added to replace the moisture lost from browning the butter.
- Chocolate: any combination of milk, semi-sweet, and dark chocolate work in these cookies! Chopped chocolate bars are preferred over chocolate chips.
See the recipe card at the end of this post for the full list of ingredients & their quantities.
Recipe summary
Below is a condensed version of the recipe steps.See the recipe card at the end of this post for thefull recipe instructions.
- Brown the butter. Toast the butter in large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Let it completely melt and crack/sizzle in the pan, then it will start to foam up. Once this happens, you should begin to see brown bits swirling around in the butter. Once golden brown, immediately remove from the heat and let cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.
- Add the wet ingredients. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk to combine. Add the egg and sour cream and whisk to combine.
- Mix in the dry ingredients. Add the baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt and whisk to combine. Add the flour and fold until almost fully incorporated.
- Add the chocolate. Fold in the chocolate until evenly incorporated and no more streaks of flour remain.
- Chill. Cover tightly and chill the dough for three hours.
- Bake. Preheat oven to 350F and bake the cookies on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet for 10-11 minutes.
FAQ
How should these cookies be stored?
Store the baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature if planning to eat within a few days. Put in the fridge/freezer for longer storage.
Why did my butter burn?
Browning butter is easy, but it only takes a few seconds to turn from golden brown butter to burnt unusable butter. As soon as the butter starts to foam up and you can see the brown bits in the pan, removed from the heat immediately.
My cookies spread too much/didn't spread at all.
Cookies that spread too much/not at all are likely from measuring the ingredients inaccurately (aka too much liquid, or not enough flour), or not enough chill time. Make sure to use a kitchen scale for accuracy.
Can I make the cookie dough ahead of time?
Absolutely! The dough can be made 1-2 days ahead of time by keeping it completely airtight and in the fridge. You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough by forming the dough into balls & freezing until firm.
Cookie baking tips
- Use a kitchen scale.I cannot stress this enough - akitchen scaleis theonlyway to ensure accurate results. They are cheap and will make cleaning up SO much easier.
- Accurately measure the flour.One of the most common mistakes in baking is over-measuring flour. If you don't have a kitchen scale, spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level it off with a knife. This will prevent the flour from being over-packed.
- Chill the dough.Chilling the dough controls spread and it gives the ingredients the chance to emulsify, resulting in a much deeper flavor.
- Use a cookie scoop.Cookie scoops are one of my favorite kitchen tools. It makes scooping the chilled cookie dough so much easier, and you don't have to get the dough all over your hands.
- Cookie scoot."Cookie scooting" is taking something circular (a cookie cutter, as an example) and gently scooting the cookies after they are removed from the oven. This makes the cookies the perfect circular shape. You can also use a mug, a glass storage container, etc.
Baking in grams
I rely ongram measurementswhen testing recipes because they offer the highest level of accuracy (and less cleanup!). Unlike volume measurements, which can vary, grams provide a reliable and consistent standard. I carefully test all of my recipes using thiskitchen scale,therefore I cannot guarantee the outcome when using volume measurements. However, volume measurements are available in the recipe card.
Other cookies recipes you may like
- Brown Butter Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie
- Brown Butter Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Haveyou tried this recipe?I would love to know how it turned out! Leave astar rating & reviewbelow and tag@sturbridgebakeryon Instagram so I can see photos & videos of your yummy bakes!Want to save this recipe for later?Tap the heart button on the right side of your screen!
Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies have chewy soft centers, thinner edges, toasty brown butter, and two types of melty chocolate. With no mixer required, you can be munching on these addicting cookies in no time!
4.91 from 10 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes mins
Cook Time 10 minutes mins
Chill Time 3 hours hrs
Total Time 3 hours hrs 30 minutes mins
Servings 18 medium-sized cookies
Ingredients
- 100 grams semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped
- 100 grams dark chocolate coarsely chopped
- 211 grams (15 tablespoons) unsalted butter (European style is preferred!) browned to 170 grams or ¾ cup*
- 150 grams (¾ cup) light brown sugar
- 50 grams (¼ cup) granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg room temperature
- 20 grams (1 heaping tablespoon) sour cream room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 225 grams (about 1 ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon) all purpose flour
Instructions
Chop your chocolate and set aside.
100 grams semi-sweet chocolate, 100 grams dark chocolate
In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. It will start to crack and sizzle - let it do this while stirring occasionally. After a few minutes or so, the butter cracking/sizzling will subside and the butter will begin to foam up in the pan.
211 grams unsalted butter (European style is preferred!)
Every few seconds or so, swirl the pan around until you can see that the butter is golden brown. You should also be able to see some of the brown bits swirling around in the butter.
Once golden brown, immediately remove from the heat and pour the butter into a large bowl and put in the fridge to cool for 15-20 minutes.
Remove the butter from the fridge and add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
150 grams light brown sugar, 50 grams granulated sugar, ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
Add the egg and sour cream and whisk to combine.
1 egg, 20 grams sour cream
Add the baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt, and whisk until incorporated.
1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
Add the flour and fold it into the mixture using a rubber spatula until there are only a few streaks of flour remaining. Add the chopped chocolate and fold until evenly incorporated and the flour is fully mixed in.
225 grams all purpose flour
Cover the bowl tightly and chill the dough for 3 hours. Once the three hours is almost up, preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop the dough using a cookie scoop (I used a 1.5 oz scoop, about 3 tablespoons or 50 grams) and space them 2-3 inches apart on your baking sheet.
Bake for 10-11 minutes until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly underdone. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then enjoy warm or transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- We need ¾ cup or 170 grams of browned butter. The three extra tablespoons of butter in the recipe should account for the moisture that is evaporated during the browning process. After the butter is browned, make sure you have exactly ¾ cup or 170 grams.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Tried this recipe? Make sure to rate and review and tag @sturbridgebakery on Instagram!
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Anasta
Your cookies look amazing. Can the sourcream substituted with yoghurt?
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Jess Italiano
Yes!
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Eymaen Mohsin
Best cookies I have ever made!!! So cheery and soft!!! Just amazing. It is a definite a key to refrigerate a couple hours or even better over night! Also, make the cookies bigger than what the recipe shows if you want them extra thick soft and chewy!!Other than that, just mmmwaaaahhh!!! Made them many times and everyone who took a bite from them fell in love!! Let this comment be the comment for you to give them a try and see the heaviness in these cookies!!??Reply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so much!!!
Rachel
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made and probably ever tasted! These are bakery quality. I did not have sour cream or yogurt in my fridge, so I used heavy whipping cream. It was the only thick dairy product I had on hand. The recipe still worked. This will be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on. Thank you!!Reply
Jess Italiano
Wow thank you so much Rachel!!
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Chris
These looks great! After refrigerating the dough, should it come back to room temp before baking or scoop and bake straight from refrigerator? Thanks!!
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Jess Italiano
I usually just scoop and bake straight from the fridge! If the dough seems too firm to scoop, feel free to let it sit at room temp for 10-20 minutes.
Faith
This recipe is amazing!!! I have tried countless chocolate chip cookie recipes and I find a lot of them are either too finicky, too basic, or not specific enough with measurements. I appreciate measuring by weight. It gives consistent results and is far easier. I have eaten five cookies today ? and can’t be bothered to stop they’re that good. This is the first cookie recipe I’ve used w/ sour cream and I have to say I am not disappointed at all!! So chewy and soft. This will be my go to from now on, I’ve been trying to find a cookie that will please anyone and this is it.Reply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so much Faith!!
Reply
Abigail Hernandez
These cookies are fantastic! I baked them weighing the ingredients. My students, friends and coworkers loved them!Reply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so much!!
Reply
Cynthia Cox
Can you use tapioca flour instead of cornstarch
Jess Italiano
I honestly haven't baked much with tapioca flour, so I'm not sure, sorry!
Stephanie
Made these cookies and I swear every single person i made them for loved them! The cup measurements are very accurate if you're not going to use grams! I loved how gooey these cookies were! Definitely recommend them!!!Reply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so much! I am so happy you all enjoyed.
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Natalie
I only have light brown sugar. Will this recipe be affected?
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Jess Italiano
No that's perfect!
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Maria
Cookies are delicious, but I'm wondering if the sugar can be reduced?I used light brown sugar, white sugar, 70% dark chocolate and semi-sweet baker's chocolate per the weights in the recipe.
I'm finding that they are a touch sweet.
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Jess Italiano
You could try reducing the sugar but just keep in mind that they may spread differently!
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Valerie Kelley
I made these for a Friendsgiving meal and I kid you not, my friends were CHANTING about these cookies. Every single person told me that it was the best chocolate chip cookie they had ever tasted. This cookie stole the show. Thank you, Jess, for making me the baking Queen of my friend group tonight.Reply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so much Valerie!
Reply
Katelyn
Quite excited on how these came out! I doubted myself with the browned butter but trusted the process.
Has anyone tried freezing portioned dough to make it easier if you wanted to have a fresh bake cookie months from now, or would it be easier to freeze the already baked cookies?Reply
Jess Italiano
Yes! After they've chilled, you can portion the balls onto a cookie sheet and place it in the freezer. Once the cookie dough is completely frozen & firm, transfer the cookies to a ziplock bag/airtight container 🙂
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Tim H
Made these cookies the other day for the first time. Absolutely the best chocolate chip cookie I've ever had. Absolutely amazing. Thank you for sharing this recipeReply
Jess Italiano
Thank you so so much!
Reply
Hailey
Would it be better if I left the cookies overnight or is your time better? I’m just curious because I want the best outcome! They look delicious by the way!Reply
Jess Italiano
3 hours is the minimum amount of chill time! cookie dough is always better & more flavorful the longer it chills, but it'll be delish no matter what 🙂
Reply
Iman
I haven't tried this recipe. But I am quite surprised about the butter to flour ratio. I make a recipe that has almost the same ratios but half the butter! And they come out soft. How do you make these without them falling apart? I'm truly confused. Are the greasy?
Reply
Jess Italiano
Much of the water evaporates when browning butter. So starting with 211 grams or 15 tablespoons of butter results in 170 grams or 3/4 cup after browning. Hope that helps!
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